South Africa violence, looting ebbs but death toll up to 117

JOHANNESBURG - South Africans counted the cost on Thursday of arson and looting that has destroyed hundreds of businesses and killed at least 117 people, as the spasm of violence began to ebb and the government doubled its troop deployment to 10,000.

Pockets of unrest remained, notably in the port city of Durban, where looters pillaged shops and racial tensions flared. But in the main commercial city Johannesburg, shopkeepers and other residents sifted through debris, cleared up trash and assessed what remained of their ruined enterprises.